Q: Please address the issue of a problem occurring in the white pine trees in the Long Island Sound coastal communities. Their needles are in various stages of turning brown.

A: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester has received a number of inquiries regarding the browning of white pine foliage over the last several months.

The symptoms seem to be particularly severe along the coastal sections of the Long Island Sound Shore. Injury has often been observed to be worse on the southeast side of affected specimens.

Local observers at Cornell Cooperative Extension as well as green industry interests who noticed the occurrence of these symptoms in the weeks after Superstorm Sandy made landfall have attributed this browning to the storm. Cornell University plant pathology experts have come to the same conclusion.

Salt injury from storms that occur along the coast is often problematic not only regarding over-wash of salt water onto coastal landscapes but also owing to the deposit of salt spray onto the foliage of plants in affected areas away from coastal flooding. This is particularly true concerning salt-sensitive species.

Because of the high winds associated with this storm, salt spray was probably carried much further inland than initially realized. The relative precipitation falling during the storm at the time of the highest winds has also been postulated by some horticulture experts as a possible reason as to why so much injury occurred.

Perhaps salt that was deposited on needles was not diluted by as much rain as could have been the case in a “wetter” storm. The latter possibility, however, remains a guess.

Whatever specific circumstances led to salt injury of foliage due to wind-borne spray, damaged tissue likely became even more desiccated during sunny days that followed the hurricane and the additional desiccation that occurred in the cold, drying winds of the winter that just passed.

As to addressing the issue of salt injury on the foliage of white pines, the degree of damage sustained should direct remediation activity. If needles were the only plant parts injured and terminal buds are healthy, new foliage produced this spring may quickly solve the problem.

If terminal buds or twigs are injured, selective pruning may be required. As with salt injury that occurs with over-wash from storm surges, many factors determine the degree of injury from salt deposits on above-ground plant parts and the possible remediation techniques that may be employed.

Patience, careful assessment and keen observation may be needed as the growing season gets under way and the varying degrees of injury unfold.